I happened to be speaking on the subject of singleness exactly a month before lockdown was introduced. With hindsight I might have included some material on singleness in a pandemic but I wasn’t a sufficiently good prophet to foresee what would take place. However, the experience of being on my own in a flat for […]
It so happens that I am drafting this second part en route to speaking about sexuality issues in London. I am looking forward to it, for as I argued in the first part, it is not really possible to speak biblically about sexuality without speaking of the message of Jesus. Here are some remaining thoughts […]
Last Sunday we finished our series in Philippians and considered the themes of contentment and generosity. I probably treated contentment in a slightly cursory fashion and limited most of my remarks to wealth and poverty given that was the context of the passage. However, I wanted to return to the theme because it is a […]
Last Sunday I was preaching down at Crofton Baptist Church in the morning service and then was interviewed on the subject of same sex attraction over lunch. I found the day immensely encouraging, especially meeting the pastor there who is a son of a former pastor of the church here. The recording for the interview […]
Last Monday evening saw me 1800m above sea level in a hotel on top of an Alpine mountain speaking at the final of sixteen sessions on Oak Hall’s Alpine Bible School. Truth be told I was feeling somewhat emotional as before the talk I said this- “To teach the Word of God to those hungry […]
Last week I wrote up some reflections on the couple of weeks I had speaking at the Oak Hall Alpine Bible School on Romans and a CU houseparty on 2 Corinthians. My chief reflection was simply the power to transform lives evident in the doctrine of the righteousness of God received by faith. However, there […]
Each year at the church we have a vision verse. It is an opportunity to focus our minds on one specific aspect of living as a Christian and we tend to explore it through a number of sermons across the year. Last year our focus was 1 Corinthians 10:31- “Whatever you do, do it all […]
Just over a year ago I wrote a series of posts on the subject of singleness and promised a review of Barry Danylak’s book Redeeming Singleness. It is described as giving a biblical theology of singleness. Let me be honest: it is not the easiest read in the world. There are reasons why it has […]
I enjoy being asked to preach at weddings. Over the years different couples have asked me to speak on a variety of passages. Getting the opportunity to talk from Song of Songs at a wedding recently was a particular highlight. However, nobody has ever asked me to speak on Ecclesiastes 9:9. I am somewhat disappointed […]
In my last post I noted that singleness can be hard. But one of the lovely truths that the Bible consistently celebrates is that what is hard can be used for good. You think of Paul in 2 Corinthians rejoicing in his weaknesses because they make him more useful for the Lord. Or ponder James’ […]